How Our Spirit Shapes Our Feelings
Our soul, more pure and enlightened than our physical body, immediately impacts our emotions—for better or worse. When fear transforms into awe of Hashem, we emerge victorious.
- רות ליאת פלץ
- פורסם י"ג כסלו התשפ"ד
(photo: shutterstock) #VALUE!
In these challenging times, we chose to bring some spiritual encouragement from the words of the righteous, of blessed memory, to draw strength for mental well-being and help us break free from stress, fear, and anxiety.
When a person shares their fears with Hashem through prayer and personal introspection, because of the faith involved in this act, the fear is transformed into awe of the Divine. When someone is afraid, they freeze and can hardly do anything—not even repent. Additionally, fear is likely to lead to sadness.
Our soul is pure and elevated above the material body, and thus it immediately affects our mood, whether for good or bad. As Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, of blessed memory, stated: "Personal introspection is a supreme and great virtue above all" (Likutey Moharan 25).
To illustrate, let's recount one of the stories of courage and faith from the Jewish people. On Shabbat Simchat Torah, a malicious attacker broke into the home of a Torah-observant family in the south of the country. Behind the mother stood all her children, and she invoked the secret weapon of our people—faith. She simply hid and repeatedly whispered: "There is none besides Him, there is none besides Him," and so forth. The attacker simply got up and left. This righteous woman clung to her faith, elevating her fear of the wicked attacker to awe of the Creator, thereby saving herself and her children.
The true and fundamental battle is within us, and constantly, spiritual enemies enter and try to undermine our faith in Hashem and the true righteous ones. They seek to kill us spiritually and take us captive in various spiritual ways, as aptly described by Rabbi Nathan of Breslov, of blessed memory: "The battle with Amalek, which is the battle against the inclination, is a very long war, and its main defeat comes through strength, enduring all that a person encounters throughout their lifetime without ever allowing themselves to fall... because truly, the battle is Hashem's, for a person cannot win on their own... and this is alluded to in the words of the holy Zohar. As long as a person strengthens themselves in prayer and cries out to Hashem, they are victorious in the battle, and this is the main victory" ("Revival of the Soul," 40).
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